Breakfast at Tiffany's

The greatest romantic movie ever. The most beautiful actress ever, Audrey Hepburn, in her signature role, and a once-in-a-lifetime role for pretty boy George Peppard (who, to his credit, absolutely nails the part). A director, Blake Edwards, who for the first time in his career made something with real emotional power after toiling in television for several years. The greatest song from a movie ever, "Moon River", which complements this movie as perfectly as music possibly can. A perfect supporting cast of Patricia Neal, as the disillusioned "other woman", Buddy Ebsen, in a rare dramatic role, as the disillusioned "other man", and Martin Balsam, as a fast talking agent. Also, for my money, as good as Woody Allen can make New York City look, the opening shots of a vacant 5th avenue, while "Moon River" plays, are some of the most evocative shots of New York City ever captured on film. Where as Woody Allen shows New York City in an impossibly perfect light, looking as beautiful as it only can "in the movies", the opening shots of Audrey Hepburn wandering around Tiffany's (with hundreds of gawkers and onlookers just feet outside of frame) convey just how lonely and overwhelming the largest city in America can be sometimes. This theme, of melancholy and sadness are really what the movie is about, and the happy ending, while welcome because it is a movie, does not really fit with the otherwise somber and tragic events leading up to it.

What makes this movie great is the attention to character not often found in romantic comedies. However, in romantic comedies there is also not as much, if any at all, of the gravitas found here in George Axelrod's adaptation of the Truman Capote novella. Holly Golightly is a carefree party girl on the surface. She earns a living by escorting rich men, and perhaps doing more, a conclusion the film remains ambiguous about, but is more of a certainty in the novella. Early on she meets her new upstairs neighbor, struggling idealistic write Paul Varjak. He is instantly smitten with Holly, but is apprehensive of her cynical, detached view on life. He wonders how she can be so nonchalant about what she does, (she has the list of the top ten richest men under 40 memorized), however Paul is not that different from Holly, he just does not want to admit it. His "sponsor", the nameless 2E, is an older woman who clearly keeps Paul around for his good looks, not his writing. In exchange for physical pleasure, she in turn gives him the financial means to continue writing, keeping his fantasy world alive in which he is better than people like Holly. As Paul falls in love with Holly, two critical things happen which make her outlook on men, love and life even more pessimistic. First a mysterious man from Holly's past, Doc Golightly suddenly appears in New York. Paul, thinking he's doing something noble, confronts the man and gets a real surprise as Doc tells him how he and Holly were married when she was still a girl. She and her brother Fred were orphans and Doc married her to give her and Fred a home and a family. Both were never really happy with Doc though and Fred eventually joined the army. Shortly after Holly ran away and came to New York. Paul is speechless, but now understands why Holly is so jaded and cynical. All that has kept her going is knowing that her and Fred may one day be reunited, otherwise she considers herself a wild bird that would rather die than be caged by anyone, including Doc or Paul. However, word arrives that Fred has been killed, and Holly is absolutely devastated.

Holly decides she will now marry Brazilian diplomat Jose, however when a scandal breaks concerning Holly's relationship with jailed mob boss Sally Tomato, Jose calls off the engagement, leaving Holly spurned again. Paul pours out his heart to Holly, begging her to stay in New York with him, but Holly has made up her mind. Marriage or not, she is going to Brazil because she has a plane ticket. Nevermind that she is under court order not to leave the country because of her involvement in the Sally Tomato case, she has lived her entire life on a whim and nothing is going to change that now. She even abandons Cat, which seems to stir some humanity inside of her, as she immediately regrets tossing aside her friend and goes looking through the rain for him. Miraculously finding Cat, Holly turns and sees Paul waiting for her. In a Hollywood downpour the two embrace, and Holly finally returns someone's love, betraying Truman Capote's cynical ending, but securing the movie's place as the best romance ever. As dramatic and emotionally intense as this movie sounds, it does have several lighter moments. The extended party sequence early on the film, when Holly first meets Jose and Rusty Trawler (so grotesque its hilarious) is filled with comedic touches, such as Madge Wildwood getting so drunk she topples over like a freshly cut tree. This is also the first time we see OJ Berman, the fast talking agent who takes a liking to Holly. Martin Balsam is clearly having great fun with his role here, and its refreshing in a movie which is otherwise fairly dour and melancholy. While I think I could appreciate Capote's ending, Audrey Hepburn plays Holly as such a beguiling, almost impossibly alluring character that the two of them not ending up together seems almost unacceptable. You need to see them together at the end, because you need to see Audrey Hepburn happy, she has such an overwhelming charm. For this reason, I could not imagine the ending any other way.